We don't live in a meritocracy where the best people get hired and the best ideas get funded. If you have become discouraged applying for jobs or grants or sending out your resume or your book proposal, remember that you are in the best of company. Our most talented and creative people fill the ranks of the unemployed.

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I don't know that it has to be this way, but in the current world, dominated by the current form of capitalism, money is poison.

Whatever we set out to do, whatever our passions and ideals, we find that we need money in order to realize our dreams. We become side-tracked. Money makes its own rules, and we find it cannot be a secondary value, subordinated to our original intent. People who make money their secondary value inevitably lose the money game to those who make money their top priority.

• I'm fundraising for my nonprofit so we can feedthepoor-savetherainforest-bringarttotheghetto-rentspaceforpractice-buyequipmentforresearch-hireawebdesigner-makeamovie-teachpeoplehowtolive-organizeaprotest-rentatheaterforourperformance
• I'm searching for a job doing _________
• I'm looking for clients whom I can help with ________
• I'm earning money so I can go back to school to study ________
• I'm working so I can retire with security and manage time the way I want
• I want to earn enough money to travel to _________
• I want to work for a company that does ___________

We don't live in a meritocracy where the best people get hired and the best ideas get funded. If you have become discouraged applying for jobs or grants or sending out your resume or your book proposal, remember that you are in the best of company. Our most talented and creative people fill the ranks of the unemployed.

My radical advice: Stop looking for money and start doing what you want to do. Start by offering services to clients who can't pay. Study the subject you've always wanted to learn about. Affiliate with people of like mind who will, like you, put their time and energy into something they care deeply about without thought of remuneration. Travel on a freighter or volunteer as a tour guide or just stick out your thumb.

Begin with what you have.

Start today.

Authors Bio:

Josh Mitteldorf, de-platformed senior editor at OpEdNews, blogs on aging at http://JoshMitteldorf.ScienceBlog.com. Read how to stay young at http://AgingAdvice.org.

Educated to be an astrophysicist, he has branched out from there to mathematical modeling in a variety of areas, including evolutionary ecology and economics. He has taught mathematics, statistics, and physics at several universities. He is an avid amateur pianist, and father of two adopted Chinese girls, now grown. He travels to Beijing each year to work with a lab studying the biology of aging. His book on the subject is "Cracking the Aging Code", http://tinyurl.com/y7yovp87.